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Just to show that still have a lot yet to learn about publishing... I have received today a request from the ALDL (Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries) for five copies of I Am a Muse. I only knew about sending a copy to The British Library, but didn't know about our books having to be made available to the Bodleian Library Oxford University, The Cambridge University Library, National Library of Scotland and Trinity College Dublin! So if you walk into one of these libraries in the next few months, you'll be able to borrow I Am a Muse! How cool is that?It feels odd, but incredibly satisfying. Especially when you read the blurb in the legal deposit section of The British Library website:

The legal deposit system also has benefits for authors and publishers:

Deposited publications are made available to users of the deposit libraries on their premises, are preserved for the benefit of future generations, and become part of the nation’s heritage.

Publications are recorded in the online catalogues, and become an essential research resource for generations to come.

Most of the books and new serial titles are listed in the British National Bibliography (BNB), which is used by librarians and the book trade for stock selection; the BNB is available on CD-ROM in MARC exchange formats, and has a world-wide distribution.

Publishers have at times approached the deposit libraries for copies of their own publications which they no longer have but which have been preserved through legal deposit.

Legal deposit supports a cycle of knowledge, whereby deposited works provide inspiration and source material for new books that will eventually achieve publication.